Ben Sherman Blog

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Ben Sherman’s Berlin store was a victim of its own success during Bread & Butter as passers by robbed shirts from the store windows.

Hard to believe, take a look, we sneakily caught it all on camera!

Win Field Day tickets

 
 
Ben Sherman are giving away a pair of Field Day tickets, enter today and you could be living it up at the coolest London based Festival. Field Day is a one day event that takes place in Victoria Park London and never disappoints. Cutting edge music with an incredible atmosphere, this shouldn't be missed!

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Attention all American Keane Fans - this ones for you!

Ben Sherman has joined forces with Keane to give two lucky Keane fans the chance to win tickets to see them play live at the Brooklyn Waterfront on the 6th of August. Sign up today!

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http://apps.facebook.com/musicpromotions/contests/48165?ref=mf

Behind the Scenes.... Its all about the visuals!

Today we go behind the scenes at the Ben Sherman Convent Garden store; things are in full swing as the visual merchandising team prepare for the new A/W launch.      

We wanted to take you behind the scenes and give you a little insight into what goes on and what fuelled the inspiration for the latest window concept and store displays.

This year the store windows showcase the latest Ben Sherman ad campaign in its full glory. The campaign is a refreshing change from previous years and is a contrast of colour and black and white, displaying a rich mix of product and British influenced style.

 

The array of rich colours, the product detail, the textures and the sheer abundance of product were aspects we felt we wanted to celebrate and bring to life in our ad campaign.

 

The shots are an arrangement of beautifully photographed product crops which are aligned with engaging black and white lifestyle imagery to create a stylish campaign that is true to the Ben Sherman roots.  

 

 

 

 

Introducing Charles and Ester, half of our talented VM team…

 

 

Charles works solely on our windows implementing new concepts across all our stores on a global level.

Ester is one of our interns and assists Charles with the windows and merchandising within the store.

The team work through out the day to ensure the store diplays and mannequins look stylish and directional, creating a seasonal story for the key trends and looks.

 

 
By the end of the day the new concept looked immaculate and the store was all set for the Autumn season.. well done guys!

Look out for next weeks Behind the Scenes instalment as the team head down to the Carnaby Street Store to inject some of their creative flair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bread & Butter 2010

Last week the Ben Sherman creative team packed their suitcases and headed to Berlin for the largest trade show in the retail calendar.

 

Bread and Butter is a outstanding three day trade event which sees over 800 brands congregating under one roof  to showcase their latest collections for the up and coming season. One hundred thousand square meters of fashion stands, a hundred and fifty thousand visitors and an electrifying buzz… welcome to Bread and Butter 2010.

 

The Ben Sherman Stand.

After months of preparation and planning it was time to unveil the Ben Sherman stand for the Spring Summer 2011 collection.

 

This year the Ben Sherman stand returned to its roots and focused on the original gingham shirt and we definitely saw the return of the original shirt maker.

 

The whole three days were a huge success and the stand was a credit to the brand and the team. All the blood, sweat and tears were well worth it as it looked phenomenal- take a look at the pictures and tell us what you think.

 

 

 

 
  

 

Take a ride on the wild side with the Camber Sands Scooter Rally.

Pictures provided by Scott Cecil.

Camber Sands Scooter Rally 2010 – Part 1 The Journey

The football season is over, the days are longer and the pollen count is up, This means one thing in my mind, the scooter rally season is upon us!! The highlight of the scooterist’s calendar is the Chelmsford Scooter Clubs, Camber Sands Rally down on the South East coast.

The 80 mile journey is ‘just’ the right distance to get to by scooter and here is the story of the arse-aching adventure.

The best laid plans always fail, thats  why we tend not to make them. So the idea was that the 8 of us would travel down on a mix of scooters and cars. Then as with any bright idea, it soon fizzled out. My old man had left work late, meaning he couldn’t ride his Lambretta SX200 back from the west end as it had no lights, Hemsby Hogg’s had gone caput, Stock’s was finger tip deep in grease replacing a carburettor and Potter is just useless.

So after a mad dash to pick up the SX in the morning we were down to 3 scooters and the rest in cars. We finally leave Thurrock 3 hours later than ‘planned’ and without meeting up with another 15 lads from Brentwood, and thankfully the rest of the journey is spectacularly uneventful.

 This obviously doesn’t make for good reading, I know you all want to hear about the journey from hell, where we end up in some backward country village and are forced to sell a few body parts in exchange for safe passage through the town but alas, not today.

Riding through the great land we call Englandon, on a scooter is one of the finest experiences you will ever come across.

As we get closer to the coast the never ending stream of petrol stations slowly start filling up with more and more scooters. Men and women of all ages, on an endless array of vespa’s and Lambretta, each as unique and stunning as the last. From the custom TV175 down to my crappy, T5, each scooter has its own story and all are welcome.

We hit the final stretch and thoughts turn to the first beer of the day. After 2 and a bit hours, your mind tends to wander a bit and there’s nothing like the promise of beer to focus it. Open up the throttle and feel the wind and bugs (bloody bugs!!) fly past your face. Finally were there, park up, helmet off, wallet out. Now where’s that bar?

Camber Sands Scooter Rally 2010 – Part 2 The Weekend

So, here we are again, Camber Sands holiday camp. Beautiful weather, beautiful surroundings (if you like 1960’s holiday parks) and about 5000 people all intent on dancing and drinking the next two nights away. The fridge has been stocked, and our bellies fed and its to put on our best threads and head out. Tonight me and my ever faithful china, Neilshafto, are going all out. I’m wearing my blue super slim suit and blue candy stripe shirt and Neil sports a plum (almost slim) suit and its no surprise that we look rather fetching, when you take a peek at the labels, (thank god for Ben Sherman!).

We all head to the hall (well almost, it’s 9 o clock and were one man down already, Bennie has felt the long cold shaft of the recession and has been drinking since mid-day, he’ll not make it out tonight, but we wont allow him the sleep he craves), the first band are ok but we head to the bar and get our mitts on a few beers to kick the night off. The next band come on pretty soon after and soon were all bopping along to the sounds of the Stone Roses courtesy of the tribute band Adored. A few beer’s later and even our feet are moving. Time then to switch to the ‘easier to handle on the dance floor’ jack and cokes. Last band of the night are Definitely Mightbe, an Oasis covers band, who also just so happen to be the previous band. After much jumping, flailing of limbs and drinks the band finish up and its back to the safety of the bar. The drinks take a leaf out of Noah’s book and now come in there two’s.  Before I know it the band are back on for what they call an encore, reality is that the encore is nearly as long as the original set!

 The rest of the night is a mixture of drinking dancing and stumbling back to the apartment to wake and annoy Bennie the deserter. Eventually the legs give up on us, the heart is willing but the energy just isn’t there. One by one we fall back to the safety and security of our beds. Sleep doesn’t come easy when the sun is already beaming in through the windows but slowly I drift off into slumber.

 Saturday, much to do and much to see, not forgetting of course that we have the small matter of the world cup quarter finals to enjoy. While most people enjoy a nice lie-in after a night of drunken dancing, there are those weird freaky people who just have never encountered a hangover. Unfortunately I am not one of those people. So when at 9 o clock people start up their scooters its like a dagger to my heart. In a instant I’m awake and with no chance of any more sleep. I look, feel and move like death. Not a pretty sight. All around me people are moving, talking, laughing and revving them bloody scooters. I feel like a POW who has been though months of sleep deprivation and then dropped into the middle of the Rio Carnival.

Mid day comes and the scooter ride-out starts, hundreds of scooters descend on the road together, it a magnificent sight, beaten only by that of John Terry missing a Champions League Final Penalty. But alas, I am not there to witness it, the JD and Cokes that were my friends last night have decided that they have had enough of my company and would like to leave immediately, the comfort of darkness and solitude is what I crave. But hey, at least no-one is revving them bloody scooter’s no more. The rest of the day is spent watching mindless TV until finally its time to somehow ready ourselves for the night out. This is done the only way I know how, JD’s a shower and a few more JD’s.

 The line up for tonight is disappointing but still worth the effort of getting out of bed. Smodati are a four piece from Italy and they don’t disappoint, they have a energy about them that lift’s the room and slowly but surely more and more people start to liven up. Headline act of the weekend are the Lambrettas, a mod revival band from the late 70’s/early 80’s.They play a simple set of new and old songs with a few cover’s thrown into the mix, but what everyone wants to hear is “Poison Ivy” undoubtedly the hit of their back catalogue. As the band finish thoughts turn to the Northern Soul Dance Competition downstairs in the “Soul Room”, here everyone who dares is welcome to strut their stuff on the dance floor until you get the dreaded tap on the shoulder from one of the judges. As the dancers are whittled down the moves get better and better, the spins are tight, the drops are err dropalicious?, and the footwork could give Michael Flatley a run for his money. The winner is announced and now its back upstairs for some more dancing and drinking until once again my leg’s decide that enough is enough and my bed is where they would rather be.

 And that’s that for another year, the scooters, the dancing and the drinking are what bring people back here year after year. A good time had by all and now all there is to worry about is the long arduous journey home, wonderful. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing!

 

New Arrivals A/W 2010

  
 
 

The latest Ben Sherman collection reinvents our mod heritage and takes a more directional approach focusing on urban modern.

Muted colour tones with an injection of canary yellow make this collection versatile and perfect or those early autumn weeks. Fabrics have a lived in look and continue to focus on quality and wear ability.. Key pieces include the Screw lightweight check shirt and the Wimborne jacket.

 

 

 

 

Alex Wookie takes on Comedy Cat

Ok right so it has taken far too long to write about this due to parties, gigs, writing new music and eating new music.

So here it is –About a month I went to a small venue in the daytime which is very surreal for me! I barely go out when the sun is up! It was in the middle of some really old looking derelict factories in Shoreditch. I was really looking forward to it because it isn't often you get asked to be in a video. I was there because I was starring in well-known London based comedian Jim Bowes’s music video! Seriously after I stopped dying of laughter and about 5 hours of recording we had recorded a brilliant and very off-centre verison of Vanilla Ice's song Ice Ice Baby. It was so much fun to do but if you are going to hold me in a room for 5 hours do not feed me beer. They had my favourite beer and they kept buying more...it was such a struggle. Well, I suppose someone's gotta do it! Check the video out and tell us what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU1RVzF9xv4

Jim Bowes will be playing this video at his shows at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival after huge popular appeal from his recent multi-date shows in Brighton.

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